Call for co-leaders for International Collaborative Writing Group (ICWG) 2019

ISSOTL invites applications from two ISSOTL members to co-lead the next ICWG to be hosted immediately preceding ISSOTL 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.  As intentional, international collaborations that bring together ISSOTL members of all ranks and regions in focused inquiry, the ICWGs embody both the spirit and the work of ISSOTL. This is an exciting leadership opportunity for ISSOTL members who are passionate about collaborative SoTL, experienced in publishing, dedicated to supporting colleagues in writing, and committed to working in international partnership. Details about the ICWG, roles and responsibilities of the ICWG co-leaders, timeline, and selection process are below.

ICWG Aims and Outcomes

The aims of the ISSOTL ICWGs are to:

1. build the capacity of participants to work and write in international collaborative groups
2. contribute to the literature of a range of SoTL topics from an international perspective

This will be the third ISSOTL ICWG. Previous ones met in 2012 in Hamilton, Canada, and 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. Articles analyzing the outcomes of those events were published in Teaching & Learning Inquiry (Healey & Marquis, 2013; Matthews & Healey, 2017).

ICWG 2019 Timeline

The next ISSOTL ICWGs will meet face-to-face prior to the ISSOTL 2019 conference in Atlanta in October 2019. However, much of the ICWG work takes place well before and after that meeting, beginning in September 2018 with selecting topic areas and group facilitators and finishing with the publication of the accepted articles in TLI in March 2020. The timeline from the 2015 ICWG offers an overview of the activities and timeframe that will inform the 2019 ICWG. Contact k.matthews1@uq.edu.au for more detailed timeline.

ICWG Co-leader Role and Responsibilities

Co-leaders will organize the ISSOTL ICWG to meet the above aims. They will be supported by and report to the ISSOTL ICWG Working Group, which will collaborate with ISSOTL’s Publications Advisory Committee and also the 2019 Atlanta conference committee. The main tasks of the co-leaders will include:

• Partnering with the ICWG Working Group to plan and carry out the 2019 writing groups
• Identifying topic areas and selecting writing group facilitators
• Organizing the call for participants and forming writing groups. 
• Supporting the group facilitators as they organize and work with their writing groups before the conference to prepare for the face-to-face meeting
• Liaising with local conference organizers regarding venue and resources for the face-to-face meeting prior to the ISSOTL conference
• Supporting the group facilitators in the submission and online discussion of initial proposals prior to the conference
• Planning the schedule and facilitating the 2.5-day face-to-face meeting immediately prior to the opening of the Atlanta conference in October 2019
• Working with the group facilitators following the face-to-face meeting to support the development of papers that are ready for submission to TLI by agreed deadline
• Liaising with the editors of TLI over submission and review of the papers and preparation for publication of the accepted manuscripts.
• Synthesizing reviewer comments and co-ordinating the return of the reviewers’ reports to the group facilitators.
• Ensuring that the final copy of the papers meet the format and layout of manuscripts for TLI.
• Writing an editorial for the special section of TLI.

Selection Process and Criteria

The two co-leaders, who likely will be from different institutions and different countries, should be able to demonstrate that between them they have necessary experiences and skills to lead the ICWG initiative to successful completion. Criteria for selecting the ICWG co-leaders would normally include:

• Experience of working in SoTL writing groups with published outcomes
• A recognized international track record as SoTL scholars
• Experience of editing of SoTL articles for publication
• Well-honed facilitation skills of faculty/academic development initiatives
• Organizational skills to work together and with the participants and stakeholders
• Experience, or openness to, engaging with students as partners in SoTL

Potential co-leaders may apply as individuals or together; you do not need to have a partner identified in order to apply to be a co-leader.

Expressions of Interest (EOI) outlining applicants fit to the ICWG criteria and timeline in no more than 2 pages should be emailed to k.matthews1@uq.edu.au  by 31 July 2018 along with a brief CV (5 pages) for each applicant.

Co-leaders will be selected by a sub-group of the ISSOTL Board and notified via email no later than 15 August.

Relevant ICWG Scholarship

• Healey, M. (2017) Reflections on the Development of International Collaborative Writing Groups (ICWGs) about Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: 8(3).
• Healey, M., & Marquis, B. (Eds.) (2013). Writing Without Borders: 2013 International Writing Collaborative. Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 1(2), 1-118. Special Issue.
• Marquis, E., Healey, M., & Vine, M. (2014). Building capacity for the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) using international collaborative writing groups. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 8(1), 12.
• Marquis, E., Healey, M., & Vine, M. (2016). Fostering collaborative teaching and learning scholarship through an international writing group initiative. Higher Education Research & Development, 35(3), 531–544.
• Marquis, E., Mårtensson, K., & Healey, M. (2017). Leadership in an international collaborative writing groups (ICWG) initiative: implications for academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 22(3), 211-222.
• Matthews, K. E., & Healey, M. (Eds.). (2017). Learning Together Through International Collaborative Writing Groups. Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 5(1). https://tlijournal.com/tli/index.php/TLI/article/view/176
• Matthews, K. E., Marquis, B., & Healey, M. (2017). International collaborative writing groups as communities of practice. In Implementing communities of practice in higher education (pp. 597-617). Springer, Singapore. View here: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-2866-3_26